OHH Endorses Data Center

Olney Hamilton Hospital CEO Mike Huff appeared before the Graham City Council on Dec. 4 to publicly support the proposed Stream Data Center, telling a packed chamber that the project could provide critical tax revenue for the county’s strained hospital system.

Mr. Huff addressed a crowd made up mostly of residents opposed to the data center, acknowledging that he understood concerns about the project but saying its financial benefits could help stabilize rural health care in Young County.

“I feel a little out of place,” Mr. Huff told the council. “But the data center will certainly help — not just the school district and the hospital here in Graham and Newcastle, but all the needs of our hospital.”

Olney Hamilton Hospital is constructing a new hospital on West Hamilton Street in Olney, a project with a construction budget of about $33 million. The hospital board had to trim the new hospital’s proposed square footage, cut obstetrics services, and raise taxes to balance the construction budget after revenue from the Young Wind Farm dropped as a result of a court-ordered reappraisal. The hospital learned last month that the other project the board was relying on to pay back the voter-approved bonds that funded the project – the Plug Power hydrogen plant had been canceled.

When OHH eliminated obstetrics services in June, Young County lost its last maternity hospital, forcing women to travel at least 45 miles from Olney to give birth.

Mr. Huff said the Olney hospital wants to expand services once the new facility is completed, but doing so requires new sources of revenue.

“We’re in the process of building a new hospital and we want to increase services,” he said. “We need equipment, we need infrastructure, and the tax revenue from this will certainly help. That way, we don’t have to bear that expense on residents.”

Revenue from the Stream Data Center could help replace that lost funding and potentially allow Olney Hamilton Hospital — and Graham Regional Medical Center, which eliminated obstetrics services in 2015 — to consider restoring maternity care. Beyond hospital funding, Mr. Huff emphasized the broader economic impact of the project.

“It will create jobs that will stimulate the economy, and it’ll help those small, rural areas and school districts and cities that are struggling so badly to make improvements in the quality of life,” he said. “There are some very bright lights to this.”

Mr. Huff told the council that while he recognized opposition to the project, he believed the opportunity was rare.

“This is a once-in-alifetime opportunity,” he said. “We’re praying that we get blessed.”